Friday, August 24, 2012

VOINA!

With the full media attention of the prosecution and sentencing of the Russian political punk performance artists, Pussy Riot, perhaps we should see it in the larger perspective of the ongoing persecution and prosecution of Anti Putin political artists. Most people who try to defend the Putin regimes prosecution of Pussy Riot try to frame it as legitimate outrage against the vandalistic desecration of a religious space. I think the stupidest comment I read on an American comment was "Wouldn't you be outraged if the American punk band, Green Day did this in a synagogue?" You really have to wonder who posts comments like this. I would ask you to read the truly eloquent and concise closing statement by Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich at the Stalinistic show trial. The only time she was allowed to speak her own words in her defense:

"The fact that Christ the Savior Cathedral had become a significant symbol in the political strategy of our powers that be was already clear to many thinking people when Vladimir Putin’s former [KGB] colleague Kirill Gundyaev took over as head of the Russian Orthodox Church. After this happened, Christ the Savior Cathedral began to be used openly as a flashy setting for the politics of the security services, which are the main source of power [in Russia]. Why did Putin feel the need to exploit the Orthodox religion and its aesthetics? After all, he could have employed his own, far more secular tools of power—for example, national corporations, or his menacing police system, or his own obedient judiciary system. It may be that the tough, failed policies of Putin’s government, the incident with the submarine Kursk, the bombings of civilians in broad daylight, and other unpleasant moments in his political career forced him to ponder the fact that it was high time to resign; otherwise, the citizens of Russia would help him do this. Apparently, it was then that he felt the need for more convincing, transcendental guarantees of his long tenure at the helm. It was here that the need arose to make use of the aesthetics of the Orthodox religion, historically associated with the heyday of Imperial Russia, where power came not from earthly manifestations such as democratic elections and civil society, but from God Himself. How did he succeed in doing this? After all, we still have a secular state, and shouldn’t any intersection of the religious and political spheres be dealt with severely by our vigilant and critically minded society? Here, apparently, the authorities took advantage of a certain deficit of Orthodox aesthetics in Soviet times, when the Orthodox religion had the aura of a lost history, of something crushed and damaged by the Soviet totalitarian regime, and was thus an opposition culture. The authorities decided to appropriate this historical effect of loss and present their new political project to restore Russia’s lost spiritual values, a project which has little to do with a genuine concern for preservation of Russian Orthodoxy’s history and culture. It was also fairly logical that the Russian Orthodox Church, which has long had a mystical connection with power, emerged as this project’s principal executor in the media. Moreover, it was also agreed that the Russian Orthodox Church, unlike the Soviet era, when the church opposed, above all, the crudeness of the authorities towards history itself, should also confront all baleful manifestations of contemporary mass culture, with its concept of diversity and tolerance."

If you are interested in lending your name to the petition by Amnesty International in America,

The video at the top of this post is the work of band of political artists in Russia called Voina, which means war. The giant penis was a piece of political art vandalism in St. Petersburg which was created one morning about a year ago. The bridge directly faces the headquarters of the one time KGB in St. Petersburg...If this outrages you, then you deserve to wallow in your misguided shame..If you think it is vandalism, well, then it magnificent vandalism, hooliganism on truly heroic scale. .Voina, is an art collective which has engaged in politicly provocative anti Putin regime actions for years. They have been arrested and the members are in prisons and suppressed in Russia. To learn more about VOINA, their work and how to support them,

Why is this important to you? America walks a thin line these days. Art is being suppressed and depending on the direction the country takes in the next year...You might have to be much more careful about what you say, who you say it to and letting people know how you truly feel....

Art & Culture Touareg

Groupe Coordination Aude Mali

Groupe Coordination Aude Mali assists refugees from Timbuctu with their basic survival needs in the refugee camp in Djibo, Burkina-Faso.
Most of them have gone back to their homes near Timbuctu and GCAM has restarted our school with 4 classes.
We already have more than 70 students attending every day but we still need basic tools and food which GCAM provides. We also pay the salaries of the 2 teachers.
With your help we could do major repairs on buildings that are partially destroyed. You can help us financing this school. A small donation goes a very long way. Thank you so much!

Groupe Coordination Aude Mali is a non profit NGO based in France. Please make a donation to support the Touareg victims of the crisis in Mali. Thank you.

About Me

Well, okay...I'm a Detroit boy transplanted to the wilds of rural France, hacking my way through the cultural underbrush.
I am an artist, I was a rock musician, professional chef and a railroad drawbridge operator. I'm just here to help.